{{Languages/FlagsRow}}

{{Glossary
 |content=

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=A
 |ref=a
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=AC3D
 |ref=ac3d
 |shortdesc=A software for building 3-Dimensional digital models and to texture them (UVmapping).
 |longdesc=Relatively inexpensive, it has its own file format (<code>.ac</code>), which Blender can import and export.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Action
 |ref=action
 |shortdesc=An “action” is a group of {{Literal|Object}} or {{Literal|Shape}} Ipos, defined in an {{Literal|Action Editor}} window, which allows you only to edit the ''position'' of the keyframes, '''not''' their value.
 |longdesc=This way, you can create actions like a walking cycle, turning the head, etc., that you will then use in the {{Literal|NLA Editor}} window. See [[Doc:Manual/Animation/Armatures/The Action Editor|this page]] for more info.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=“Action” actuator
 |ref=action actuator
 |shortdesc=The {{Literal|Action}} actuator provides an interface for controlling action playback in the game engine. {{Literal|Action}} actuators can only be created on armature objects.
 |longdesc=See [[Doc:Manual/Game Engine/Logic/Actuators/Action|{{Literal|Action}} actuator]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=“Action Editor” window
 |ref=action editor window
 |shortdesc=This window allows you to edit actions in Blender.
 |longdesc=See [[Doc:Manual/Animation/Armatures/The Action Editor|this page]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Active
 |ref=active
 |shortdesc=Blender makes a distinction between selected and active. Only one object or item can be active at any given time, for example to allow visualization of data in buttons.
 |longdesc=In {{Literal|Object}} mode, the active object (in general, the last selected) is shown in a lighter pink than selected ones. When no object is selected, there is still an active one (its center remains pink), in general the last one deselected. See [[Doc:Manual/Modelling/Objects/Selecting|this page]] for more info.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Actuator
 |ref=actuator
 |shortdesc=An actuator is a logic brick of the game engine, that acts like a muscle of a lifeform. It can move the object, or also make a sound…
 |longdesc=See also [[Doc:Manual/Game Engine/Logic/Actuators|this page]], and the {{Glossary/Link|ref=logic brick|txt=Logic Brick}} and {{Glossary/Link|ref=blender game engine|txt=Game Engine}} entries.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=“Add” menu
 |ref=add menu
 |shortdesc=A menu item on the {{Literal|User Preference}} header. It allows you to add primitive objects to your scene.
 |longdesc=If in {{Literal|Object}} mode, a new object is created each time. If in {{Literal|Edit}} mode, the primitive is added ''inside'' the edited (active) object. See also [[Doc:Manual/3D interaction/Navigating/3D View Usage#Add|this page]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Artificial Intelligence (AI)
 |ref=artificial intelligence
 |shortdesc=Computer programs developed to mimic human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, problem-solving, and making decisions.
 |longdesc=Artificial intelligence programs enable computers to perform tasks such as playing chess, proving mathematical theorems, etc.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Alpha Channel
 |ref=alpha channel
 |shortdesc=Additional channel in 2D image for transparency.
 |longdesc=In an image element (a pixel) which stores a color, an additional value is stored for the alpha channel, containing a value between 0.0 (full transparency) and 1.0 (completely opaque). In a Blender render, a value of 0.0 means that the pixel does not have any coverage information, i.e. there was no color contribution from any geometry because the geometry did not overlap this pixel. A value of 1.0 means that the pixel is fully opaque because the geometry completely overlapped the pixel.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Ambient Light
 |ref=ambient light
 |shortdesc=It’s light that doesn’t seem to come from a specific source, but is just there in the world.
 |longdesc=Look under the desk -&nbsp;it’s pretty dark, but there’s some light there. In the real world, this is caused by stray photons bouncing around and occasionally ricocheting under the desk. Ambient light is basic, minimal amount of light in the whole scene. Adding too much ambient light makes a scene look washed out. Since the light doesn’t come from anywhere, all sides of an object are illuminated equally, and it won’t create any shading on it.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Animation
 |ref=animation
 |shortdesc=Simulation of motion. Blender can output video animations as well as real time animations.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Animation (Buttons)
 |ref=animation buttons
 |shortdesc=Sub-context of the {{Literal|Scene}} context ({{Shortcut|F10}}).
 |longdesc=In this sub-context, you can set the start and end frames of an animation, slow it down or accelerate its tempo, set the frame rate, force Blender’s 3D view playback to be in sync with the frame rate, even if it must drop frames… Useful for pacing the animation to the audio.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Ambient Occlusion (AO)
 |ref=ambient occlusion
 |shortdesc=It simulates a huge dome light surrounding the entire scene. If a surface point is under a foot or table, it will end up much darker than the top of someone’s head or the tabletop.
 |longdesc=A ratio of how much ambient light a surface point would be likely to receive, based on how much “sky” it can “see”.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Append
 |ref=append
 |shortdesc=Full copy in a host .blend file of one or more datablocks taken in another .blend file.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Architectural Design
 |ref=architectural design
 |shortdesc=Using Blender 3D to design architecture (including houses and similar constructions).
 |longdesc=See the [[Dev:Ref/Uses/Architecture|Architecture page]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Area
 |ref=area
 |dict={{Glossary/Entry/Dict|lang=EN|term=area|usage=1|note=Try to avoid its use!}}
 |shortdesc=Traditionally, an area in Blender is any sub-window, like the 3D view, the text editor, the Ipo window…
 |longdesc=Very few people use that term nowadays, so try to avoid its use!
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Armature
 |ref=armature
 |dict={{Glossary/Entry/Dict|lang=EN|term=armature|usage=4|note=The tech term in Blender.}} {{Glossary/Entry/Dict|lang=EN|term=skeleton|usage=3|note=Prefer using “armature”.}}
 |shortdesc=A single-member class of primitive object that allows to control/deform other objects (often meshes), generally to animate them. It is made of “bones”.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Automerge
 |ref=automerge
 |shortdesc=An editing mode working with the snap tool, which removes the doubles when you snap 2 vertices or more.
 |longdesc={{Literal|Mesh}} menu&nbsp;→ {{Literal|AutoMerge Editing}}. See also the [[Doc:Manual/Modelling/Meshes/Snap to Mesh|Snap-tool page]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Autostart
 |ref=autostart
 |shortdesc=Automatically start the game (like pressing {{Shortcut|P}}) when opening the .blend file?
 |longdesc={{Literal|User Preference}} menu&nbsp;→ {{Literal|Game}}&nbsp;→ {{Literal|Autostart}}.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Axis
 |ref=axis
 |shortdesc=A reference line.
 |longdesc='''1.''' The geometry of Blender’s world is defined by three orthogonal axes, x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis. They are shown as red, green, and blue lines, respectively, in the 3D View. Their mutual intersection defines the position of the origin of the global coordinate system in Blender. In this Cartesian-derived system, a 3D position is defined in terms of its offset from these axes.<br />'''2.''' Each object (or simultaneously selected set of objects) has its own, local axes that are orthogonal to each other and to the sides of the object’s bounding box. Local axes are invisible, unless you enable their drawing ({{Literal|Object}} context&nbsp;→ {{Literal|Object}} sub-context&nbsp;→ {{Literal|Draw}} panel&nbsp;→ {{Literal|Axis}} button). If toggled on, the [[Doc:Manual/3D interaction/Manipulation/Manipulators|Transform Manipulator]] resides on the operational center of the object, and its arrows by default parallel the global axes. However, a {{Literal|Local}} mode can be selected from the {{Literal|Orientation}} dropdown list on the 3D View header. When in this mode, the arrows of the Transform Manipulator will coincide with the local axes of the object, and manipulations (transformations) in either {{Literal|Object}} or {{Literal|Edit}} mode will occur with respect to these local object axes.<br />'''3.''' A set of small axes in the lower left corner of the 3D Viewport acts as an orientation monitor. Its arrows always parallel global axes, regardless of view and even in free-roaming view. The arrow heads point in the positive direction along each global axis.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=B
 |ref=b
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Background
 |ref=background
 |shortdesc=What is at the far end of the scene.
 |longdesc=In general, nothing important occurs in the background, as the viewer generally does not concentrate on it. However, it may be very important for the credibility of your scene (backgrounds are often retouched photos or mate-paintings, as it would be to much a work to create/render them in “real” 3D).
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bake
 |ref=bake
 |shortdesc=''To bake'' is to pre-calculate a part of the scene, to avoid the need of re-calculating it each time you render. Useful for compute-intensive effects like softbodies, fluids, …
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bevel
 |ref=bevel
 |shortdesc=In CG, a bevel is a narrow face added between two faces that join themselves at a (relatively) sharp angle.
 |longdesc=They are used to soften a bit objects’ corners. See the [[Doc:Manual/Modifiers/Mesh/Bevel|{{Literal|Bevel}} modifier]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN, FR
 |title=Bézier
 |ref=bezier
 |dict={{Glossary/Entry/Dict|lang=EN|term=Bézier|note=Note that this is a surname, so write “Bézier” and not “bezier”!}}
 |shortdesc=Bézier curves and surfaces are parts of the parametric objects (like NURBS and meta objects).
 |longdesc=They were first described in 1972 by the French engineer Pierre Bézier, who used them to design automobile bodies. Bézier curves and surfaces can be of any degree, but bicubic generally provide enough degrees of freedom for most applications.<br />Note that Blender does not support Bézier surfaces, only curves…
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Blend
 |ref=blend
 |shortdesc=''To Blend'', working with Blender; also Blender’s file extension (<code>.blend</code>).
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Blender Documentation
 |ref=blender documentation
 |shortdesc=Well, it’s a never-finished attempt of the Blender community to document the always-richest wonderful features of Blender!
 |longdesc=The main official documentation is this wiki, but you can find many others on the web (tutorials, video tutorials, …).
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Blender File
 |ref=blender file
 |shortdesc=This is a binary file that contains a whole set of scenes and other (meta)data, in native Blender format (a sort of database).
 |longdesc=Note that a Blender file not only stores the “useful” data, but also the GUI layouts, settings, and so on…
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Blender Foundation (BF)
 |ref=blender foundation
 |shortdesc=The non-profit organization created by Ton Roosendaal to free Blender, in 2002. From that day, it has dedicated to promoting and developing Blender.
 |longdesc=See also [[Doc:Manual/Introduction/History|this page]].
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Blender Game Engine (BGE)
 |ref=blender game engine
 |shortdesc=The real-time part of Blender. Its main purpose is game creation, but it may be used for things like live demo, interactive visits, and so on.
 |longdesc=See the [[Doc:Manual/Game Engine|Game Engine chapter]] of the Manual.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bone
 |ref=bone
 |shortdesc=The constituting elements of an armature. Each bone of an armature can influence the position/rotation/scale of objects and/or vertices. In fact, there are quite similar to there biological counterpart!
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bounce Light
 |ref=bounce light
 |shortdesc=The indirect lighting of shadowed areas.
 |longdesc=Simple lighting situations have a single light, called a key light, illuminating one side of an object. This creates strong shading and definition of the volume of the object. However, a 3D light will often make the contrast too great -&nbsp;the dark side of the object is completely black since no light is hitting it. In reality it would still be lit a little, just not as much as the brightly lit side, because of light bouncing around the room and hitting the dark side of the object. In realtime 3D, bounce light is not calculated, so you have to create it yourself. Either add a little ambient color, or put a second, less bright directional light pointing the opposite direction to give a little light to (to “fill-in”) the shadows.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bounding Box
 |ref=bounding box
 |shortdesc=A bounding box is the rectangular parallelepiped that bounds as tight as possible an object (including those of complex shape, joined objects, boolean unions, etc.), in its local space (i.e. its sides are parallel to its local axes).
 |longdesc=All Blender objects may be seen as representative bounding boxes by selecting {{Literal|Bounding Box}} drawing mode in the {{Literal|Draw type}} dropdown list on the {{Literal|3D View}} header bar. Hotkey {{Shortcut|Z}} toggles bounding box and solid drawing modes. Bounding boxes can only be viewed in {{Literal|Object}} mode.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Buffer
 |ref=buffer
 |shortdesc=A buffer is a particular type of memory object, in general created to temporarily store data.
 |longdesc=Note that buffers may have a “fixed” size (like the ones for renders, in Blender), or a variable length (like most of the Input/Output buffers in a computer).
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Bump Mapping
 |ref=bump mapping
 |shortdesc=Bump mapping is a technique to simulate relief on smooth surfaces, by modifying their shading.
 |longdesc=At each pixel, a perturbation to the surface normal of the object being rendered is looked up in a texture map and applied before the illumination calculation is done. Bump Mapping use a gray-scale image map to change the direction of surface normals. You can use this to simulate height, so that you can paint wrinkles and bumps. 50&nbsp;% gray means neutral (no change is made), lighter means higher, darker means lower. Note that the position of faces is not actually changed: by rotating just the normals, lighting will change too, to give the illusion of a height difference. This has downsides too: the outline of objects isn’t changed, so the trick is given away. For similar (but more evolved) effects, you can use {{Glossary/Link|ref=displacement mapping|txt=Displacement Mapping}} and {{Glossary/Link|ref=normal mapping|txt=Normal Mapping}}.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=“Buttons” window
 |ref=buttons window
 |shortdesc=The {{Literal|Buttons}} window is a window type in Blender where most of the options/control/settings of the objects/materials/scenes/… are regrouped.
 |longdesc=It is subdivided in {{Glossary/Link|ref=context|txt=Contexts}} and {{Glossary/Link|ref=sub context|txt=Sub-Contexts}}.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=C
 |ref=C
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Context
 |ref=context
 |shortdesc=A context is a “role” subdivision of the {{Literal|Button}} window, regrouping common settings of current selected/active object(s).
 |longdesc=For example, in the {{Glossary/Link|ref=buttons window|txt={{Literal|Buttons}} window}}, you have a {{Literal|Shading}} context ({{Shortcut|F5}}) regrouping everything about lighting, materials and textures. Or a {{Literal|Editing}} context ({{Shortcut|F9}}) with all settings and tools concerning the edition of an object, or its mesh/control points/…<br />Note that contexts can be further subdivided in {{Glossary/Link|ref=sub context|txt=sub-contexts}}, when there are many things (like for the {{Literal|Shading}} one, for example).
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Controller
 |ref=controller
 |shortdesc=A controller is a logic brick that acts like the brain of a lifeform. It makes decisions to activate muscles (actuator), either using simple logic or complex Python scripts.
 |longdesc=See also the [[Doc:Manual/Game Engine/Logic/Controllers|controller page]], and the {{Glossary/Link|ref=logic brick|txt=Logic Brick}} and {{Glossary/Link|ref=actuator|txt=Actuators}} entries.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=D
 |ref=d
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Displacement Mapping
 |ref=displacement mapping
 |shortdesc=Displacement mapping is a technique to create relief on smooth surfaces, by displacing its vertices.
 |longdesc=It uses a greyscale heightmap, like {{Glossary/Link|ref=bump mapping|txt=Bump Mapping}}, but the image is used to physically move the vertices of the mesh at render time. This is of course only useful if the mesh has large amounts of vertices, but the (relatively) new {{Literal|Simple Subdiv}} subsurf option allows you to add more vertices at render time which will be moved by the displacement. This makes it much slower than Bump Mapping, as there need to be many more faces to render, but it is much more realistic.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=L
 |ref=l
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Logic Brick (or Logicbrick)
 |ref=logic brick
 |shortdesc=A graphical representation of a functional unit in Blender’s game logic.
 |longdesc=Logic Bricks can be {{Glossary/Link|ref=sensor|txt=Sensors}}, {{Glossary/Link|ref=controller|txt=Controllers}} or {{Glossary/Link|ref=actuator|txt=Actuators}}.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=N
 |ref=n
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Normal
 |ref=normal
 |shortdesc=Surface normal, or just normal to a flat surface, is a three-dimensional vector which is perpendicular to that surface.
 |longdesc=A normal to a non-flat surface at a point p on the surface is a vector which is perpendicular to the tangent plane to that surface at p.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Normal Mapping
 |ref=normal mapping
 |shortdesc=Normal mapping is a technique to simulate relief on smooth surfaces, by modifying their shading.
 |longdesc=It is similar to {{Glossary/Link|ref=bump mapping|txt=Bump Mapping}}, but instead of the image being a greyscale heightmap, the colours define in which direction the normal should be shifted, the 3 colour channels being mapped to the 3 directions X, Y and Z. This allows more detail and control over the effect.
 }}
 }}

{{Glossary/Group
 |name=S
 |ref=S
 |content=

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Sensor
 |ref=sensor
 |shortdesc=A sensor is a logic brick that acts like a sense of a lifeform. It reacts to touch, vision, collision, etc.
 |longdesc=See also the [[Doc:Manual/Game Engine/Logic/Sensors|sensor page]], and the {{Glossary/Link|ref=logic brick|txt=Logic Brick}} entry.
 }}

{{Glossary/Entry
 |lang=EN
 |title=Sub-Context
 |ref=sub context
 |shortdesc=A subdivision of a context.
 |longdesc=For example, the {{Literal|Shading}} {{Glossary/Link|ref=context|txt=context}} ({{Shortcut|F5}}) has five sub-contexts: {{Literal|Lamp}}, {{Literal|Material}}, {{Literal|Texture}}, {{Literal|Radiosity}} and {{Literal|World}}…
 }}
 }}

}}

